not horrible nor great

Instant Favorite.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

George Bernard Shaw, as big a name as he was, proves here that no everything he thought of to write was great. I understand his play here was only performed once live. Then these script writers converted it into a screen play.Talented Director Guy Hamilton did this film and the action sequences show his talented touch. The film is short which in this case is an asset. The performers are very talented which helps too. There are a few comedies about the American Revolution, Abbott & Costello's Time of Their Lives comes to mind. In a way, this film has some in common with it. Abbott & Costello were not getting along when they did their film. Here Lancaster, Douglas & Olivier are are trying to get along and get quality screen time. The difference is A&C have ghosts and do obvious comedy. This one has a cheeky style of jokes that in some cases go over the average audience heads.Lancaster is a preacher, Douglas is a sort of rascal, and Olivier is British General Burgoynne (yes, there really was this General). While the facts are few and far between, the characters are very well acted. That is what makes this entertaining. It becomes obvious as the film goes along that Lancaster & Douglas own the production and both of them get their moments in. Olivier pretty much plays the straight man who gets the major speeches and comes off quite well.The most unusual role is Lancaster (the preacher's) wife. She has to play a woman almost on the edge of fooling around with Douglas when her husband gives her the chance. It is an edgy role and really makes the film more interesting than most films. Janette Scott actually brings this role off quite well.Because of the length being short, and the male stars all being at the top of their games, this comes off pretty good despite the farce it is at times.

Having seen The Devil's Disciple on a venue that runs films which have fallen into the public domain, I wonder how anyone could have let copyright lapse on such an intriguing, yet quirky, film as this. With it's triumvirate of strong leading men, and an interesting script, this movie should be much more well known. And with it's rather oddball presentation it's surprising that it does not have cult status.The live action segments are excellent, and there is no slack in the acting or direction. However, some poor soul made the bizarre decision to interject little Rankin-Bass type puppet animation segments at nearly random moments, thoroughly negating - each time - all the dramatic momentum that has been accumulated up to that point. The animated segments are well done, and moderately amusing in and of themselves, yet completely incongruous to the tone of the surrounding film.These segments are, however, a minor flaw when compared with the greatest drawback of this movie. I am referring to the character of Judith Anderson, our hero's wife. She is, without a doubt, the most annoyingly fickle and foolish female character that I can recall having ever witnessed in any film; and very nearly the most hysterical as well. Not too far into the story I began to get the feeling that I would very much like to slap her. Halfway through the film I was consciously rooting for each of the male leads to take a turn slapping her. By the end of the film I was convinced that everyone in the film should have slapped her, and probably the crew as well! The only thing that made this character bearable was the calm, good-natured presence of Lancaster, Douglas, and Olivier.Now, this is not intended to denigrate Miss Janette Scott, who portrayed Mrs. Anderson. On the contrary, she did a remarkable job of making this over-the-top hysterical woman seem real. A lesser actress might have easily come off as overly melodramatic and phony in such an extreme performance. Her skill in the performance is the reason that we want to slap her. Kudos to Janette Scott. It is my opinion that almost everyone who watches this film will, in fact, want to slap her. Be prepared.

In 1777, as the American colonies are breaking away from the United Kingdom, hanging rebels and their cohorts is commonplace. Springtown, New Hampshire minister Burt Lancaster (as Anthony "Tony" Anderson) would like the British to stop hanging his parishioners. When they come to hang Mr. Lancaster, they mistake manly Kirk Douglas (as Richard "Dick" Dudgeon) for the pastor, because he is accosting Lancaster's pretty wife Janette Scott (as Judith). She is trying to avoid Mr. Douglas's masculine charms, but you know she wants him...Leading the charge for King George is Laurence Olivier (as John "Gentlemanly Johnny" Burgoyne)...Douglas bests Lancaster in this screen strutting contest, even splitting his pants for one scene. Lancaster does, however, get the best individual scene; this is when he tries to explode some gunpowder outside a window. The locations and sets are well constructed. There are good appearances for Mr. Olivier, Neil McCallum (as Christopher "Christie" Dudgeon) and motherly Eva Le Gallienne. Originally a play by George Bernard Shaw, it's theatrically staged by Guy Hamilton and the co-stars, but this motion picture version doesn't make a good impression.***** The Devil's Disciple (8/20/59) Guy Hamilton ~ Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Laurence Olivier, Janette Scott

Despite its imposing credentials (featuring the star combo of Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier and being adapted from a George Bernard Shaw play), this film is – criminally, if you ask me – scarcely ever revived. Until now, in fact, I had to make do with a tiny reproduction of the poster from the time of its original release locally (kept by my father in a large worn-out scrapbook); for the record, the copy under review was culled from a TCM screening. Anyway, this is a comedy-adventure of the kind 'they don't make 'em like anymore' but one that, being rich in dialogue (as is to be expected of a Shaw work), comes across as atypically intelligent. The setting is the American Revolution (incidentally, the film was begun by Alexander Mackendrick – an American whose career actually took off in England!) with Lancaster a small-town preacher, Douglas a self-proclaimed "ne'er-do-well" and Olivier the General of the invading British army. Douglas, at his roguish best, and a wittily sardonic Olivier are very funny – while Lancaster's initial (albeit necessary) glumness is redeemed by a characteristic bout of acrobatics at the finale. Interestingly, he and Douglas (by the way, THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE was a co-production between their respective companies) gradually exchange identities throughout the film – with the latter passing himself off as a man of the cloth yet keeping his fervent anti-British sentiments unchecked and the minister forced by circumstances into rebellion, action and eventually negotiations with the enemy. The supporting cast, then, is headed by lovely Janette Scott (who manages to hold her own in the company of the two American stars, playing a character named Judith Anderson!) and Harry Andrews (in the role of Olivier's eager yet dim-witted aide) but also including the likes of Basil Sydney, Mervyn Johns and Allan Cuthbertson. Notable, too, are a rousing score by Richard Rodney Bennett and the novel bits of exposition (detailing the progress of General Burgoyne's ill-fated campaign) amusingly done by shifting military figurines about on a map of the area; incidentally, in the style of Lancaster's THE CRIMSON PIRATE (1952; also co-written by Roland Kibbee), we are urged to believe the events as fictionalized here rather than the way documented history presents them!